It is almost a year since our last ride and camp trip to Ahning dam campsite. The last ride, which shrouded with fear and uncertainty only attracted 3 others. Pandemic restrictions and SOPs have been loosen due to a successful vaccination nationwide push so we are able to cross state borders again in October. As in last year, riding during this season means a lot of rain and cloudy condition which poses risks for offroad trail riding. Thus we have selected to camp in a northern campsite by a canal for flood control in Timah Tasoh dam. Located around 550km north of Kuala Lumpur, it is one of the furthest R&C in the last two years.
There are a
few small groups of riders will be heading to Perlis, all with different
rendezvous points and departure times but most of them plan to congregate at a
point called RV5 near Kuala Kedah. Mohdi and Carlos has agreed to join me at
R&R Rawang around 7.30am on Saturday. It was a clear morning with blue sky
and ambient temperature around 24⁰C when I departed from home. The famous
petrol station in that R&R was already fuzzing with activities when I
arrived and Mohdi was already there. Carlos arrived slightly later and we
departed around 7.45am towards Ipoh.
There was
an accident involving a bread truck blocking the highway between Tanjung Malim
& Behrang and we were very lucky that it was cleared as soon as we get to
the front of the crowd, in fact Mohdi was the first vehicle that made it passed
the blockade. We continued north and the traffic in the highway was moderate and
mists were still on the treetops when we exited Menora tunnel. We arrived at
R&R Sg Perak around 9.30am and found many other groups of motorcyclists.
It started to feel hot after we passed Taiping and Mohdi said he have to refuel his 250 KLX right after Juru toll. We were separated around Bukit Merah, since he was riding at slower pace and I waited at the promised station. However after a while, there was no trace of him & Carlos so I continued to Sungai Petani (U) exit alone. Mohdi’s small KLX250 fuel tank has the smallest capacity among us and he was forced to stop earlier. We were reunited at a petrol station in Sungai Petani and continued riding towards Semeling and Yan through K1. The road is in immaculate condition with moderate traffic when we passed Tanjung Jaga and Sungai Ruat enroute to Kuala Kedah.
The road passes through vast paddy field with backdrop of Jerai Mountain and the northern coast of Straits of Malacca. The straight lane between Yan and Taman Nakhoda was beautiful and full of life. Traffic began to increase as we arrived at Kuala Kedah and the small road through Kampung Baru Tandop connected to Tok Pasai Bridge are doing their best to channel them but there was almost no available space to slip through cars here. It began to clears as we continued through a secluded coastal road between Kuala Kedah and Kuala Perlis. A straight leveled road with wide shoulder is a good spot to hold a drag race - I joke to myself here. Ambient temperature was around 37⁰C and it was scouring hot when we have a little bit of trail riding at Kampung Sungai Dua before arriving at RV5 around 15minutes past one o’clock.
Kedai Makan Mazlina GPS 6.221936, 100.235968
Photo Credit to Mohdi
Photo Credit to Mohdi
Other riders began to arrive and the last was Cikgu Ikhwan with Jimm whom departed from Seri Iskandar. They went to the same route as us and it is very fortunate Cikgu Ikhwan didn’t ride his GTR despite the “No Offroad” slogan we had with this ride. Jezz with Bamer and ND aren’t available today since they decide to take lunch elsewhere.
After lunch we continued towards Kuala Perlis through coastal road but made a right turn at Kuala Sanglang before crossing Perlis River on R103.
By this time, the weather started to change with heavy dark clouds hovering in the distance. We rode along the coastal road towards the last water lock of the canal and later along the canal to arrive at the campsite around 4.00pms.
This is 22.5km canal for flood irrigation project that connects Timah Tasoh Dam to Kampung Wai which include 756 meters tunnel under Tebing Tinggi Hill, three bridges and one waterlock build in 2014 with RM315 million official cost.
Here we were separated into 2 groups since some of riders decided to stay at Taman Eko-Rimba Bukit Ayer. Mark, Fred, Jimm & Ikhwan decided to stay at the canal and we started to unpack. As soon as we finished setting up flysheet, it started to rain heavily.
As the sun sets, it stopped raining but intermittent cold winds blowing through our campsite and it getting noticeably cold. Fred was however unperturbed and stayed with shorts and singlet throughout the night, while i escaped under a sleeping bag. Mark with Fred went out to buy dinner and drinks but I have packed mine from our lunch place.. No roti canai for this trip ya Mark!. That night it rain intermittently and we resume our last communication since our last get-together.
The next day started with a drizzle and cloudy sky so we had breakfast under the flysheet.
Around 8am, it started to clears and we began packing. It is important that if we camp in public spaces like this we bring back all our garbage and leave the site spotless.
Fred, Jimm & Ikhwan went to nearest Surau to clean themselves while I bath in the canal. By 9.30am, we went for photo session before heading to Timah Tasoh Dam.
As we
headed towards Beseri through FT7, it began to rain heavily. However when we
arrived at the viewpoint it reduced to drizzle and took photos at the Dataran Tasik Timah Tasoh.
We continued towards Bukit Chabang Mari Resort through Kampung Bukit Chabang and small trunk road. Upon arrival we were disappointed to find the place were closed and so we took photo outside the gate.
We continued to the designated lunch place in Changloon through Chuping and Ulu Pauh. There were very few traffic on FT194 and it continued to drizzle. We arrived at the lunch spot around 12 noon.
As we were
discussing to leave, Jezz, Bamer & ND arrive at the lunch spot and we
waited for them to depart. It was raining heavily shortly after, that made our
wait a bit longer. I have spoken to a worker at the restaurant about our plan
to take the trail along Bukit Perangin and he said the road towards a tahfiz
school was recently resurfaced with tarmac.
Restoran D'Bonda
GPS 6.443578, 100.476308
We made a
move towards the trailhead around 2pm and the ambient temperature was around 25⁰C with a slight drizzle. The clouds were still dark and heavy when we
entered a freshly laid tarmac trail -as said, towards Kampung Wang Perah.
Surprisingly the tarmac ended right in-front of the school, but I push on into
the trail.
Trailhead GPS 6.438995, 100.473489
Rain water was overflowing and at one section we were about 3ft deep water going along 200m stretch of the trail. My GPS set was showing we were on the right path so I keep on going. The trail surface is made of loose gravel and rock boulders with some section is on red laterite. I was at the front of the pack when Jimm fall down right beside a landslide before a culvert – a near miss that could have been worse if he fall into the raging river below. He was helped by the team and Jezz acted as the sweeper in this section.
We finally made it to a bailey bridge, a relief sign that the worst was over for the trail. The scene at a clearing with Bukit Perangin (719m) and Bukit Damar (370m) engulfed in mist were really majestic. It was still drizzling when we reach K104 from Kampung Wang Perah towards North South Expressway E1. I left the group around Gurun and rode towards Juru when I stopped for petrol.
The weather was raining almost 75% on the way back sometimes with very heavy downpour, that limited our visibility. After Taiping I have reunited with the main group and we rode towards KL. Ambient temperature was around 22⁰C when we passed Gopeng and we stopped for a break.
Our last refilling point was at Behrang and it was already 7.30pm when we arrived. The weather soon clears as reached Selangor state border and I finally arrived home around 8.30pm.
Ride Snippets
1. Rashidin Modenas Dominar 400
2. Jezz Kawasaki KLX 250
3. Jimms BMW F800GS
4. Fred Honda CBX500
5. Mohdi Kawasaki KLX250
6. Cikgu Ikhwan Yamaha Y15
7. Saidi Honda Xadv750
8. Ikhwan Suzuki V-Strom 650
9. JoDgun Xmax250
10. Bamer BMW GS1200LC
11. Carlos Honda CRF250
12. Zool Kawasaki Versys 650
13. Awe Kawasaki Versys 650
14. Rizal Honda CBX500
15. KW Mark Honda PCX 150
16. Andy Honda CRF250
Date: 27-28 November 2021
Lowest temperature: 20°C (Campsite)
Highest temperature: 37°C (Kuala Kedah)
Expenditures:
Petrol: RM120
Food: RM20
